France Deploys Troops and Enforces Curfews as Cost-of-Living Riots Grip Major Cities

France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu declared a major security escalation on 21 October 2026, announcing that military forces would be deployed in a 'massive' operation ahead of fresh protests planned for the coming Saturday. The unrest began on 18 October when over 500,000 people marched across France to protest soaring living costs and the deteriorating state of public services. The demonstrations rapidly descended into riots, with cars set alight, shops looted and public buildings stormed in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille and Limoges. More than 2,500 people were arrested over the weekend. By Monday night, curfews had been imposed in Paris from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. around Place de la République, with public-gathering bans from 8 p.m. near Les Halles, the Champs-Élysées and major train stations. Similar curfews, some targeting minors specifically, were put in place in Lille, Nice and Marseille. The government blamed far-left agitators, while student and protest groups pointed to structural poverty, with the French Student Union noting that one student in two cannot eat properly. The crisis lands at a politically explosive moment: President Macron is constitutionally barred from standing again, and far-right and hard-left candidates are leading polls ahead of presidential elections expected in 2027.